Today’s Prime Early Access Sale makes the best-value Steam Deck microSD card even cheaper
Over £100 / $100 off the 1TB SanDisk Ultra
Update: It looks like the UK's 512GB deal and the US's 1TB deal are no longer available. Boo, but also, the 400GB model is now on sale, so I've replaced the former with this mid-sized card in the lists below. I've also updated the 256GB SanDisk Ultra's price, as it's dropped slightly further. The otherwise original version of the article is as follows...
In case you missed the mega-guide that went up earlier, today marks the start of Amazon’s Prime Early Access Sale: a two-day buffet of discounts that’s exclusive to Prime members. That includes loads on PC gaming hardware, though my eyes were most immediately caught by something not very desktop-grade at all. The SanDisk Ultra, one of the best microSD cards for the Steam Deck, is on sale across a choice of capacities – with the 1TB model getting especially juicy >50% savings in both the UK and US.
I’ve tested game loading times on the Ultra next to higher-spec and more expensive microSDs, and it really holds its own despite being more of a budget design. Amazon’s basically-Prime-Day-but-not-called-Prime-Day sale makes it even cheaper, so if you’ve acquired a Steam Deck thanks to the recent bursts in Valve’s production speed, now’s a good time to add some extra storage space to it.
UK deals:
 | SanDisk Ultra 256GB microSD - £17 (was £49) from Amazon UK |
 | SanDisk Ultra 400GB microSD - £40 (was £77) from Amazon UK |
 | SanDisk Ultra 1TB microSD - £95 (was £218) from Amazon UK |
US deals:
| SanDisk Ultra 400GB microSD - $32 (was $70) |
 | SanDisk Ultra 512GB microSD - $44 (was $100) from Amazon US |
I also spotted the Samsung Pro Plus, which for my money is the single best Steam Deck-ready microSD card you can get, on sale from Amazon UK. Only the 256GB version, mind, and although it’s arguably worth the extra £2 over the 256GB SanDisk Ultra, more is more when it comes to PC storage. And the Steam Deck, handheld as it is, is still a PC; one that fills up quickly if you’re installing modern 3D games on it. Aim for a 512GB or 1TB card if you can, especially if you opted for the cheapest 64GB Deck.
Also, just to reiterate, these deals are only available to those with an Amazon Prime account. You can get around that by signing up for Prime’s 30-day free trial – this grants all the perks of a full membership – but remember to cancel before those 30 days are up if you don’t want to keep paying for a regular subscription.